Using collective data for targeting of advertisements

Abstract

A method, system, and medium are provided for targeting advertisements to users of a search engine based on collective data and the geographic location of the user. Collective data comprising any non-user-specific data, such as public and/or private statistical data for a population of users and for a geographic area is employed to identify geographic areas to which to provide advertisements. Advertisers select target criteria that indicate characteristics of a population of users or of a geographic area that are desirable for provision of the advertisement. A geographic granularity or geographic subdivision is specified. Geographic areas of the specified granularity are identified that are associated with collective data that meets the target criteria. As such, the advertisement is provided for presentation to a user that executes a search query from an identified geographic area.

1 . Computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that, when executed, perform a method for targeting advertisements to a user of a search engine based on collective data, the method comprising:
 receiving a selection of one or more target criteria for an advertisement;   receiving a selection of a geographic granularity for advertisement targeting;   determining via a computing device having a processor, a geographic area in which collective data associated with one or more of a population of users and the geographic area correlate with the target criteria, the geographic area being identified with respect to the geographic granularity; and   receiving a bid for an amount to be paid for providing the advertisement for presentation to a user of a search engine, the user being located within the geographic area.   
     
     
         2 . The computer-readable media of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving one or more keywords to be associated with the advertisement.   
     
     
         3 . The computer-readable media of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 receiving a search query from a user that includes at least one of the one or more keywords;   determining a geographic location of the user;   determining that the geographic location lies within the geographic area;   providing the advertisement for presentation to the user on a search engine results page; and   debiting an advertiser the bid amount.   
     
     
         4 . The computer-readable media of  claim 1 , wherein the collective data comprises one or more of demographic data, statistical data, census data, publicly available commercial data, privately held commercial data for the population of users, and data associated with the geographic area or conditions in the geographic area. 
     
     
         5 . The computer-readable media of  claim 1 , wherein the collective data includes dynamically generated data that is updated in real-time, periodically, or upon request. 
     
     
         6 . The computer-readable media of  claim 1 , wherein the geographic granularity defines the geographic area at the level of countries, regions, states, counties, parishes, townships, cities, zip codes, or census tracts. 
     
     
         7 . The computer-readable media of  claim 1 , wherein determining the geographic area further comprises:
 providing a list that includes the geographic area from which an advertiser selects one or more target area,   wherein the bid for providing the advertisement for presentation to a user is greater when the user is identified as being located within the one or more target area than when the user is identified as not being located within the one or more target area.   
     
     
         8 . The computer-readable media of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving an indication of a range of values that satisfy one or more of the target criteria.   
     
     
         9 . The computer-readable media of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 calculating a reach value that indicates a percentage of users in the geographic area that meet the target criteria based at least in part on the collective data.   
     
     
         10 . A system for targeting advertisements presented in a search engine results page based on collective data and a user's location, the system comprising:
 an advertisement-campaign-configuration component configured to receive a selection of one or more target criteria to be associated with an advertisement and to receive a selection of a level of geographic granularity upon which targeting of the advertisement is to be based, the target criteria indicating characteristics of one or more of a user population, a geographic location, or data associated with the user population or geographic location;   a geographic-area-identification component executed by a computing device having a processor and is configured to identify one or more geographic areas for which collective data correlates with the target criteria, the geographic area being identified with respect to the geographic granularity, the collective data describing characteristics of, or associated with, one or more of a user population in the geographic area and the geographic area, and the collective data including only non-user-specific data; and   a bid-receiving component configured to receive a bid indicating an amount to be paid for providing the advertisement for presentation to a user that is identified as being located within the one or more geographic areas.   
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 a presentation component configured to provide a user interface for presentation to an advertiser by which selection of the one or more target criteria, the geographic granularity, and the bid are received.   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the collective data is statistical data for a user population in the geographic area. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the collective data includes dynamically generated data that is obtained in real-time, periodically, or on demand. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the collective data includes privately owned data. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the advertisement-campaign-configuration component is further configured to receive one or more keywords associated with the advertisement, and wherein the advertisement is provided for presentation to the user that is located within the one or more geographic areas and that provides one or more of the keywords in a search query to the search engine. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the bid is greater for providing the advertisement for presentation to the user that is located within the one or more geographic areas than when the user is not located within the one or more geographic areas. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the user's location is identified based on an identified location of a mobile device employed by the user to enter a search query to a search engine. 
     
     
         18 . A method for targeting advertisements presented in a search engine results page based on collective data and a user's identified location, the method comprising:
 selecting, by an advertiser via a user interface presented by a first computing device having a processor, one or more target criteria to be associated with an advertisement;   selecting a geographic granularity for targeting of the advertisement;   providing one or more keywords associated with the advertisement;   receiving an indication of a geographic area associated with collective data that meets the target criteria, the geographic area being identified by a second computing device having a processor based on collective characteristics of one or more of the geographic area and a population of users in the geographical area, the collective characteristics including only non-user-specific information, and the geographic area being indicated at the selected geographic granularity level; and   bidding an amount to be paid for providing an advertisement to be presented to a user that is located within the geographic area and that provides at least one of the one or more keywords to a search engine, the advertisement being presented on a search engine results page.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein selecting one or more target criteria to be associated with an advertisement further comprises:
 indicating a range of values of collective data that meet the target criteria.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein a plurality of geographic areas associated with collective data that meet the target criteria are indicated, and further comprising:
 selecting one or more of the plurality of geographic areas, now selected geographic areas;   bidding an increased amount for providing the advertisement for presentation to users located within the selected geographic areas.